“What?—­give me what?” said the peasant.

“She will kiss me, and say, ‘What the old man does is always right.’”

“Shall we wager?” said the Englishman.  “We’ll wager coined gold by the ton—­a hundred pounds to the hundredweight!”

“A bushel will be enough,” replied the peasant.  “I can only set the bushel of apples against it; and I’ll throw myself and my old woman into the bargain—­and I fancy that’s piling up the measure.”

“Done—­taken!”

And the bet was made.  The host’s carriage came up, and the Englishmen got in, and the peasant got in; away they went, and soon they stopped before the peasant’s hut.

“Good evening, old woman.”

“Good evening, old man.”

“I’ve made exchange.”

“Yes, you understand what you’re about,” said the woman.

And she embraced him, and paid no attention to the stranger guests, nor did she notice the sack.

“I got a cow in exchange for the horse,” said he.

“Heaven be thanked!” said she.  “What glorious milk we shall now have, and butter and cheese upon the table!  That was a most capital exchange!”

“Yes, but I exchanged the cow for a sheep.”

“Ah, that’s better still!” cried the wife.  “You always think of everything; we have just pasture enough for a sheep.  Ewe’s milk and cheese, and woolen jackets and stockings!  The cow cannot give those, and her hairs will only come off.  How you think of everything!”

“But I changed away the sheep for a goose.”

“Then this year we shall have really roast goose to eat, my dear old man.  You are always thinking of something to give me pleasure.  How charming that is!  We can let the goose walk about with a string to her leg, and she’ll grow fatter still before we roast her.”

“But I gave away the goose for a fowl,” said the man.

[Illustration:  “My dear good husband!”]

“A fowl?  That was a good exchange!” replied the woman.  “The fowl will lay eggs and hatch them, and we shall soon have chickens; we shall have a whole poultry yard!  Oh, that’s just what I was wishing for.”

“Yes, but I exchanged the fowl for a sack of shriveled apples.”

“What!—­I must positively kiss you for that,” exclaimed the wife, “My dear, good husband!  Now I’ll tell you something.  Do you know, you had hardly left me this morning, before I began thinking how I could give you something very nice this evening.  I thought it should be pancakes with savory herbs.  I had eggs, and bacon too; but I wanted herbs.  So I went over to the schoolmaster’s—­they have herbs there, I know—­but the schoolmistress is a mean woman, though she looks so sweet.  I begged her to lend me a handful of herbs, ‘Lend!’ she answered me; ’nothing at all grows in our garden, not even a shriveled apple.  I could not even lend you a shriveled apple, my dear woman.’  But now I can lend her twenty, or a whole sackful.  That I’m very glad of; that makes me laugh!” And with that she gave him a sounding kiss.